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Standard Zombie
The Standard Zombie is the most common Zombie form seen in the ''Half-Life'' series. It is the manifestation of a standard Headcrab attaching to a victim's cranium and taking over their nervous system. Overview Once a Headcrab successfully attaches to a host, the Headcrab's alien physiology causes various "mutations" to manifest in its host, such as increased strength and a sharp-toothed "mouth" that bisects the victim's chest cavity from neck to groin. The claws of the zombie might be the whole hand but without skin and tendons and only the bones remain. However, in Half-Life the zombies had full function of their "elongated claws", which could have been a mutation. In Half-Life 2, the chest "maw" instead appears to be a ripped open chest cavity with no sternum. Removal of the Headcrab reveals that the host's head is strangely untouched with its head bent back and mottled, bloody hair and bloody face set in a scream. In Half-Life 2, horrified sounds emanating from zombies imply that, while severely injured, the host is at least partially aware of its horrific situation. Occasionally, Headcrab zombies may survive losing both legs and their lower torso, and continue to crawl along using their arms. In most cases, a Headcrab remains attached to its host until the zombie is destroyed, although in Half-Life 2, they will occasionally detach from the host if it is rendered immobile by its injuries. Trivia * Playing parts of a victim's sound file backwards produces extremely disturbing yells of pain. The reversed cries have been interpreted as "God help me" and "get it off me". If set on fire, the victims may say things that might be interpreted as "Why, why, why!?", "Help God help, help me!", "Gaaah!", "Gaaaah, I'm on fire! Gaaaaah!", "My life's fading!" and "My eyes sting! Gaaah!", "Put it out!". Similarly, raising the pitch of the sound file produces a normal sounding voice effect. * It is a popular fact that in Half-Life 2, the standard zombies seem to be screaming "Yabba, my icing!" This is apparently an inadvertent effect of changing the original recorded sounds. * In Half-Life, zombies are seen "feeding" from dead scientists and soldiers by taking flesh from corpses and stuffing it into their chest "mouth." However, this is not seen in Half-Life 2. This behavior might have been scrapped or simply overlooked and not programmed. Another theory is that they put the "food" directly into their stomach. * In the non-HD variant of Half-Life and its expansions, a zombie's Headcrab appears to be "fastened" tighter to the victim's face, revealing the eerie outline of a human skull. * Two Standard Zombie growls can be heard in the film Drag Me to Hell, at 2:15. The Half-Life series uses many stock sounds heard in many other video games and films. Gallery ''Half-Life'' and its expansions File:Zombie white bg.jpg|Concept art. File:Zombie render.jpg|Early model render. File:Zombie b render.jpg|Ditto. File:Bm39.2.png|Early model render with the skull much more apparent than in retail. File:Zombie skulls.jpg|Ditto, in Black Mesa. File:Zombie Scientist.jpg|Original Half-Life model. File:Zombie multi.jpg|Deathmatch model. File:Zombie HD.jpg|HD model. File:Zombie grunt.jpg|The Zombie Grunt. File:Of1a10006.jpg|Grunt being zombified. File:Welcome to Black Mesa.jpg|Zombie grunt after killing a scientist. File:We Are Pulling Out.jpg|Security guard zombies. File:Zombie security guard.jpg|The Zombie security guard. ''Half-Life 2'' and its episodes Pre-release File:Zombie blobs.jpg|Concept art. File:Zombie sketch.jpg|Ditto. File:Zombie Ravenholm trailer.jpg|Early Beta Zombie in the first Half-Life 2 trailer, reused for the Beta torso model.Half-Life 2 E3 2003 Trailer File:Crowbar zombie borealis.jpg|Early Zombie in the Borealis. File:Zombies beta rtb.jpg|Early Zombies in early Ravenholm. File:Zombies Ravenholm cover.jpg|Ditto. File:Zombie Ravenholm burn.jpg|Burning zombies in Ravenholm File:Zombies town.jpg|An early view of the Zombies in Ravenholm File:Zombies streets smg.jpg|Attacking beta zombies File:Zombie Standard beta.jpg|The Beta Zombie. File:Zombie Standard headcrabless beta.jpg|The Beta Zombie, without Headcrab, showing the jaw. The exposed jaw was recycled for the Zombine. File:Zombie Standard torso beta.jpg|Beta Zombie torso, based on the early Beta model. File:Zombie Standard torso headcrabless beta.jpg|Beta Zombie torso, without Headcrab. File:Boxing0038.jpg|Zombies about to fight in the map "boxing". File:Boxing0042.jpg|Zombies fighting in the same map. File:Boxing0045.jpg|Ditto. File:Boxing0048.jpg|Defeated Zombie in the same map. Retail File:Ep1 zombies.jpg|A group of Zombies inside the City 17 Underground File:Ep1 alyxzombie.jpg|Alyx is being attacked by a Zombie. File:Ep1 alyxzombiefight.jpg|Ditto. File:Ep2 outland 06 zombie.jpg|Zombie tries to break a fence. File:Ep2 outland 09 zombieshelling.jpg|Zombie near a Headcrab Shell. File:Ep2 outland 09 zombiegroup.jpg|A group of standard Zombies. File:Zombie HL2.jpg|Idle Zombie. File:Zombie fire arms raised.jpg|Zombie "in fire" animation, with arms raised. File:Zombie up sans headcrab.jpg|Zombie without Headcrab. File:Zombie torso.jpg|Zombie torso. File:Zombie torso headcrabless.jpg|Zombie torso, without Headcrab. File:Zombie torso headcrabless zoom.jpg|Closeup of the Zombie torso, without Headcrab. List of appearances *''Half-Life: Day One'' *''Half-Life'' *''Half-Life: Uplink'' *''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' *''Half-Life: Blue Shift'' *''Half-Life: Decay'' *''Half-Life 2'' *''Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar'' *''Half-Life 2: Episode One'' *''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' Notes and references Category:Half-Life Category:Half-Life: Opposing Force Category:Half-Life: Blue Shift Category:Half-Life: Decay Category:Half-Life: Uplink Category:Half-Life 2 Category:Half-Life 2: Episode One Category:Half-Life 2: Episode Two Category:Zombies Category:Recurring themes Category:Enemies Category:Ted Backman designs